Kubota North America Corporation acquires Bloomfield Robotics

The Bloomfield cameras can be mounted on any vehicle that can be operated on these farms to collect image data on crop conditions such as the color, maturity, size of fruits and leaves during operation. - Photo: Kubota

Kubota Corporation, Osaka, Japan, through its North American subsidiary, Kubota North America Corporation, has acquired Bloomfield Robotics, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based company. Bloomfield provides a service that monitors the health and performance of specialty crops, one plant at a time, using advanced imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) to growers across seven countries and three continents.

Bloomfield’s cameras are the foundation for a new Software as a Service (SaaS) that provides plant-level health and performance assessments for growers of grapes (e.g., wine, table, and juice), blueberries, and other specialty crops. Bloomfield’s purpose-built cameras are mounted on tractors and other vehicles common to farming and allow for the capture of detailed plant-level, geo-located images of the entire farm. These images are then translated into crop data such as color, maturity, and size of the fruit using Bloomfield’s AI. The result is insights into harvest timing and yield, which enables operational efficiencies, better timed harvests, reduced labor costs, and increased asset utilization.

Kubota’s strategy

M. Brett McMickell, Chief Technology Officer for Kubota North America stated:. “Combining AI-driven technology with our legacy quality products will enable Kubota to solve real issues facing agriculture. This acquisition is a key milestone for Kubota’s strategic vision to provide comprehensive smart agriculture solutions.”

The specialty crop market overall has become a focal point of Kubota’s strategic attention and efforts to shape the future of agriculture. The level of mechanization and automation in specialty crop farming, such as fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts, lags behind advancements incorporated in the cultivation of row crops. Innovative solutions to integrate data with automated systems, operational robotics, and other assets are needed.